Why Feminism Is A Necessity

I was going through my news readers when I came across a site with a woman declaring her disbelief in feminism, via ifemenist.com. Yes I know, the world is unfair, and men by enlarged suffer from misandry. I had written this page off as fringe, lunatic nonsense, and moved on when I came across a study that found that, 90% of adolescent girls experience sexual harassment. 90%..that is an astounding figure. I kept flashing back in mind to this website, and realized I had to confront it. Bear with me while we make our way through the muck of internalized hatred. The post in question is entitled, “Why Is This Woman Against Feminism.”

“We got the vote in, what, 1920? That’s 88 years ago, nearly a century! So what is feminism trying to accomplish now???? I say the push is now for special privileges for women, not equal opportunities. I say further that the new strategy, and one that has worked very well for nearly a century, is to get those special privileges by making women look like victims of society in general, and men in particular. Not only that, but to make it really effective, they have to convince the women themselves that they really are victims.”

There is more to equality than having the right to vote. Women still make 70 cents for every dollar a man makes, and the disparity is even larger for women of color. The vast majority of women that are single mothers live in poverty, but daily the right to have an abortion is continually being assaulted. Mothers that are married, and work outside of the home still perform most of the domestic duties, childrearing, and elder care. This constitutes a “double day”. Women bodies are constantly sexualized in the media. I challenge you to watch fifteen minutes of television without seeing the image of a half naked woman, selling us something we neither want, or need. Daily for a small fee one can have access to violent pornography thus reifying our rape culture. Or perhaps hip hop is your thing, I can imagine how you might find it pleasant to hear women referred to as bitches and hos continually. Maybe you are more mainstream, and you have found delight in the sexism that has been thrown at Hillary Clinton. My goodness a woman president, we cannot have that, when she gets her period she might be tempted to push the button. Where oh where will we hide the tampon dispenser in the Oval office? You see that office is the repository of male bodily fluids, and the cleaning staff are used to dealing with semen, and not blood.

Speaking of semen, are you feeling a little horny dear? Any idea where your clitoris is? Found it by accident didn’t you, because female sexual pleasure just isn’t taught in sex education classes. No need to get upset though because women don’t need to have an orgasm to walk around barefoot, and pregnant. They just need to spread their legs when told, and feign pleasure at the mans will. This will also include perfecting the skill of fellatio while ignoring the fact that your man thinks that cunnilingus is some foreign country off the coast of Italy. Throw the little man in the boat a life jacket, and buy a vibrator, it may be the only way you will ever have an orgasm. Since you clearly are so traditional, I won’t even get into the fact that it isn’t considered sex when lesbians are intimate. I mean how can it be sex where there is no penis involved?

Society is continually disciplining the female form, unlike the perfect male Adonis body. Did you know you stink? Don’t worry though there are douches for that, just don’t think about what it is doing to your natural chemistry. What is that… a hair on your leg? Didn’t you know that women are supposed to all have hairless prepubescent bodies at all times, while men can go around looking like they belong in gorillas in the mist, with nary a batted eye. Are you feeling hungry sweetie? Better watch what you eat, the diet industry is dependent on your desire to conform to the ideal female form to maintain profits. Don’t worry though Jenny Craig will love you, for every dollar of your meager disposable income that you spend trying to get into an unachievable size o. Do you have any money left after purchasing your high sodium diet food? Good stuff because what’s left has to go to the plastic surgeon. You know that a true woman cannot allow herself to age naturally. No that would mean that you didn’t care about yourself. Better get those boobs lifted, the stomach tucked, and those crows feet removed. You cannot afford to look haggard next to your man, who even though he is five years older than you is becoming distinguished while you look dried up, and used.

Speaking of your senior years, you know that stress free retirement you were dreaming of? Ditch that idea. You see, you took so much time out of the workforce to raise children, and take care of your elderly parents that it has effected your retirement benefits. Should you have the misfortune to outlive your spouse, and loose his share of benefits you will become a regular at food banks, and soup kitchens. Even with the discounts you will get for being a senior, economically life will be very hard for you.

“So if you can’t lie, the only other alternative is to tell the truth. Ah, but it’s all in the way you tell it. Only include the juicy parts. Include the stories about men beating up, raping, even killing their wives. Leave out the part about how the vast majority of men wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing. Leave out the part about how the vast majority of men would like to see the perpetrators of such horror killed. Leave out the part about women beating up, raping, even killing their own children. It wouldn’t be politically expedient to mention those parts of the truth, so we’ll just leave those out.

And that is what I have against feminism. It’s a big fat lie. The reality, whether any readers who call themselves feminist want to believe it or not, is not some pie-in-the-sky “equality”. It’s the elevation of one sex, by the demonization of the other. Kind of like the Nazi party elevated the Aryan race, by the demonization of the Jews. It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now.”

What was that you were saying about the vast majority of men? According to the study I referenced at the beginning of this post, “Ninety percent of girls reported experiencing sexual harassment at least once. Specifically, 67 percent of girls reported receiving unwanted romantic attention, 62 percent were exposed to demeaning gender-related comments, 58 percent were teased because of their appearance, 52 percent received unwanted physical contact and 25 percent were bullied or threatened with harm by a male. 52 percent of girls also reported receiving discouraging gender-based comments on the math, science and computer abilities, usually from male peers, and 76 percent of girls reported sexist comments on their athletic abilities, again predominantly from male peers.” I know that this is only one study, however there are many in existence which document the exploitation, violence, and sexual assaults that women must deal with on a daily basis. Get a library card, its free….it might open your eyes, because clearly you have internalized the nonsense that people like Limbaugh have sold to the world.

Finally feminism does not claim that all women are perfect. Yes there are some feminist theories like radical feminism, and eco-feminism, that are essentialist but they do not speak for all of the various forms of feminism. Feminist theory is fluid, and constantly changing to meet the diverse needs of women. Simply stating the facts of the lived experience of women does not constitute the demonization of men. Why should women deny the horrors of their daily lives so that men can have a feel good experience? Why can’t they just watch Oprah and Dr.Phil? Finally your holocaust analogy is horrible for many reasons. I will however state to you, that men have been slaughtering women since the beginning of time. Now with the aid of technology we are killed before we can even take our first breath. It is called femicide. Live in denial if rose colored glasses allows you to negotiate this world a little easier but please sell crazy somewhere else, the kool aid is not as tempting as you think.